Yes that's true. They try to put private cars at the front or rear of a train, but sometimes they aren't able to. So you may have the public walking through as you eat dinner. Comes with the territory {shrug}.
Train crew (conductors) always have the right to walk through the car. If your train goes into Tampa Florida for example, the train has to reverse out of the station to a wye so it can turn around. If you are the end car, the conductor will be there watching for problems, manning the emergency brake, and communicating with the engineer on their radio.
The new trainsets that Amtrak just ordered from Siemens Mobility come with cab cars, so the crew can use that to control the train and not be out in the weather (and have full gauges, etc.) The cab cars are part economy seating so if your private car is on that train, you will probably end up sandwiched between the cab car and the rest of the train and have people walking through.
Railroad companies having cab cars in Europe do sometimes run them in the middle of trains. It is not impossible, it just voids the benefits of having a cab car for the particular train and schedule. Sometimes it is acceptable in the greater scheme of scheduling and planning.
One example that comes to my mind is prisoner transports. I have seen a prisoner car (which cannot be passed through by passengers or crew, it has no doors at the ends) in front of cab car. In that sense, the cab car is being used as a normal passenger car, of course in the rear end of the train.
So, if Amtrak values private cars and privacy in such cars enough I think they can find a solution without people passing through. If the schedules require faster turnarounds, one low-tech solution is not selling tickets to the cab car.
Well for the exact same reason why it's so fun to drive a very expensive very flashy sports car through a crowded area - you get a lot of attention and everyone thinks "wow this person must be loaded". If that's your thing of course.
Same reason why rich people open up their gardens and dining halls and art collections to the public from time to time - to show off.
> The new trainsets that Amtrak just ordered from Siemens Mobility come with cab cars, so the crew can use that to control the train and not be out in the weather
So basically a caboose? Albeit more sophisticated.
Trains are actually pretty safe, but I wouldn't leave a pricey item out where someone could take it. So far as locking your stateroom door - I'd do that at night just to keep curious teens who are exploring the train out.
If you’ve got a private rail car on an Amtrak train in the first place, I’m sure you can afford enough staff for a night watch shift if you really were concerned.
Are these new trains different from the Siemens locomotives that Amtrak have been using in the Midwest for the last ~10 years? I don’t recall ever seeing anything on the back of those trains.
They've been running the Siemens Charger locomotives for a little while, and are phasing out the GE Genesis locomotives (which are at end-of-life) as new Chargers are delivered.
The new trainsets are the Siemens Venture cars. Brightline in Florida is already running a version of them - their cars are set up for high platforms only (all their stations have high platforms). The Amtrak cars will work with both high & low platforms, as the older stations on their network still have low platforms (passengers need to step up into the cars)
I wonder if it's like the double-decker passenger cars used for Metra in Chicago. These trains never change direction (like Amtrak) but just run forward (IIRC) into the city and reverse back out to the suburbs. The car on the end has a small cab where the engineer sits and controls the train when it is running reversed. From the outside the difference between that and a passenger car is pretty subtle.
Ha! I’ve always thought that all the Metra cars were identical and each one had a cab for when the train is heading into the city (Metra always configures trains so they “back into” the Chicago terminal (Union Station/Ogilvie/LaSalle).
Like the CTA (and the South Shore) trains - every single pair could be be the lead. They all have a spot for a driver (engineer?)
Train crew (conductors) always have the right to walk through the car. If your train goes into Tampa Florida for example, the train has to reverse out of the station to a wye so it can turn around. If you are the end car, the conductor will be there watching for problems, manning the emergency brake, and communicating with the engineer on their radio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wye_(rail)
The new trainsets that Amtrak just ordered from Siemens Mobility come with cab cars, so the crew can use that to control the train and not be out in the weather (and have full gauges, etc.) The cab cars are part economy seating so if your private car is on that train, you will probably end up sandwiched between the cab car and the rest of the train and have people walking through.